Device for detecting overheated bearings



Apr. 1o, 1923.

1 awa.,

Filed Nov.

JosErn r. LEONARD, or PaTEnso'N, VNEW JERSEY.

DEVICE FOR DETECTING OVEBHEATED BEARINGS.

application mea november- 5, 1921. :serml m. 513,103. ,I

To all whom t may concern.'-

Be it known that I, J osEPn P. LEoNARD, a citizen of the United States, residin at Paterson, in'the county of Passaic and tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Detecting Overheated Bearings, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide means for protectin a bearing against overheating as the resu t of dissipation of the lubricant. According to the invention in its bestl form a hollow holder is provided which may be screwed into the part subject to overheating, as the 'ournal box, and has at its inner end a fusi le member which normally prevents release of. a lubricant mass containedin the holder and urged toward the said end of the holder by a spring and which member further normally restrains a springpressed signal device against moving and so giving notice that the bearing needs to be A 1re-supplied with lubricant; in such best form of the invention the lubricant mass is preierably in the form of a solid capable of melting when the temperature becomes suiiicient to fuse said fusible member, so that thereupon in liquid form the lubricant will run into the bearing. The drawing shows, in i Figure 1, car-bearingA equipped with the improved protecting means;

. Figure 2, a sectional view of the bearing and protectingmeans on al larger scale; and

Figures 3 and 4, details.

The car-bearin shown! is of usual form, a being the axle, the box, and c thebrass, which rests on the `axle and is contained in the box; the box as usual adords space below the axle for waste to contain the 4lubricant, which is usually applied to the box in liquid form. The present invention is intended to function when this, the regular lubricant, is exhausted. y The box`is formed, preferably at aylateral point, with a threaded hole d into which is screwed the threaded end of a cylindrical hollow holder e `whose :opposite end has screwed thereon a cap f; but the holder may be closed outwardly or otherwise provided with anoutward abutment (which cap .f constitutes) in any other way. The inner end of the holder is exteriorly reduced `and .thereonY areclinched thevinturned ends of thearms ofwacross-shaped fusible metallic so that after clinching the member g in place theA holder may be screwed into hole d. Against the abutment f bears a helical spring L and against' the spring and held between it `(the latter beingin compression) and the member g is a plug of solid grease t', adapted to melt or fuse and assume liquid form unl(ger a temperature suiicient to fuse the memer g. y When the temperature of theA bearing reaches that degree which will cause` fusing of member g, the then unrestrained plug 'L' will be forced by the spring inward, melting away at its inner end, the liquid -product (liquid lubricant) resulting ,from the melting running down into the box to be supplied to the bearing by the capillary action of the waste present therein, or in any other way; the spring is adapted to relax suiiiciently to keep the inner end of the plug up to its work, so that it will inally all be f melted away. By providing in this way for automatic replenishment of\lubricant a car bearing or the like can be protected against overheatin if the regular lubricant becomes exhausted hetween stopping stages.

It will be understood thatv the device g is in itself an indicator: its presence lor absence, upon removing the holder e therefor .anglesto the line of sight by which the bearl from the bearing, will reveal whether .or not,

ing is usually observed, the plate being 'adapted to swing down to a horizontal plane so as to stand edgewise to the observer. In this position it compresses a lifting spring lc, -so that it is'normally moved by the spring to the former of these positions, and it is held in said horizontal position by a linkshown as a wire Z having at'one end an eye lf engaged in a hole in the plate and the other bent oli atright angles to form a hook Z" which enters a hole g in the member g."

The'beari'ng may be suitably apertured, as at' mf, to receive Vsaid link. When the member g fuses and so releases the link and plate the latter assumes the uprightV -positiom The v `face thereof then presented to the observer (the one normally down) may be given some striking color, as white or red. The arrangey what l c ment is such that when the signal device'j has been operated due to fusing of member g, upon removal of the holder and fitting the same with a new member g and then screwing the holder back into the hole d the end or catch Z of the link can. be readily made to enter thefv'hole g of said member, said holel for this purpose being placed in the longitudinal axis of the holder. The member g v may be sheet material, but due to the pull of 1. lln combination, with ya bearing, signal means normally moved to display position and having a catch, and a controller for the ing and a fusible member on the holder having the catch removably connected thereto `and thereby resisting movement 'of the signal means. i

2. In combination, witha support.,l normally moved signal means on the support, and a plate-like fusible member on the support arranged in a. plane substantially parallel with the plane" of movement of the signal means, and having the latter embedded therein and thereby resisting movement of the signal means.` y

ln testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

JOSEPH r. LEoNARD.v l

` signal means including a holder on the bear- 

